Virtually everyone consumes prescription pharmaceuticals at one time or another. In each instance, the consumer is faced with a series of procedural steps and information. The procedural steps include submitting the prescription, waiting for it, picking up the prescription, and signing applicable notices. In some cases, the prescription is modified to satisfy the demands of the patient's insurance company. A large volume of information about the patient, pharmacy, physician, and drug is provided on the prescription sticker on the bottle, juxtaposed with numerous warning or cautionary labels haphazardly placed on the bottle. Additional information is provided on one or more printed, folded sheets, which are included with the prescription bottle.
Faced with this relatively chaotic presentation of seemingly obscure facts and requests, consumers can easily misunderstand many aspects related to their prescription. This situation is compounded when a consumer takes several prescriptions and/or when several members of the household each have one or more prescriptions, causing the multiple instructions and warnings to become overwhelming. Reduced vision also is a problem since distinguishing between multiple similar bottles requires very close inspection of the already confusing combination of the warnings and prescription label.